Local cricket club plans to grow sport in Petaling

MUGWALLA Cricket Club, formed in 1994 as a social club, has progressed to become a centre of excellence for budding cricketers in Selangor.

The club has set a vision to build a population of 400 young cricket players in Petaling. Mugwalla Cricket Club chairman Jaffar Chua said they were pleased to have played a part in the development and promotion of cricket in Selangor.

“We have a big group of cricket enthusiasts who play an important role in our junior development programme. But we have reasons to be proud as several trainees from our programme have made it to the state as well as national squads,’’ said Jaffar.

Youngster K. Sivanantha is a member of the National Under-19 squad while M. Kogilan has earned a place in the National Under-16 squad.

Other notable trainees include M. Velmurugan, P. Suria, Danial Asyrani, Koji Hashimoto Chua, P. Balamurugan, Samuel Koshy and Daniyal Hashimi who are members of Selangor’s various age groups.

Mugwalla Cricket Club’s humble beginnings started in SK Subang Jaya when a group of cricket lovers got together and organised weekend training sessions. Under the leadership of Jaffar, a group of qualified coaches - V. Ravi, Vijiyar Thevan, M. Paramanathan, B. Ravi, M Rajesh and Usman Hashimi - have been guiding the youngsters.

Clean bowl: Mugwalla Cricket Club chairman Jaffar Chua (right) having a discussion with the elite
players

About 120 juniors, aged from 12 to 19, attend the programme at SK Subang and other schools in Subang on Saturdays. On Sundays, training is held at the Taylor’s University in Bandar Sunway.

Jaffar said they were grateful to Taylor’s University for providing the facilities.

“We use the futsal court as well as nets at Taylor’s and we also have training sessions at schools in Subang Jaya. The Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) recently approved a site at USJ1 to set up nets which are expected to be ready within the next two months.

“All the while, the Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) and Selangor Cricket Association (SCA) have been very supportive of our efforts,’’ said Jaffar.

Of late, the club has been very successful in the localscene. In 2009, they were made champions of the Jumbo Challenge.By 2010, the club took the top spot of both the Club Aman Sixes and Malaysia Airlines Veterans Sixes while making it to the runners-up position in the Navaratnam Shield.

Last year, they won the Subang Junior Sixes and its winning streak carried on in to this year it became the champions of the Penang International Sixes.

With such an excellent track record, Jaffar said they were also keen to initiate a junior league.

“But we have to put everything in place first before embarking on that. We need a proper venue, coaches and a big pool of juniors to realise our dreams.”